What shocked us most about the mysterious Covid19 virus was the way in which it was able to take a whole world, with its massive activities on land, sea and sky and take all people and places into captivity, depriving us of a choice in the way we live and above all, of our freedom.

Freedom, in all its perceptions, is the hall mark of Western Society and the common thread between democracies and our human rights.  Wars have been fought over it.  It has been attacked by terrorists in Paris, in the USA, in Germany, London, the far East and right across the globe.   Many attempts have been made to strike into the heart of freedom and our way of life.  These attempts cost the lives of many and we all stopped and saw inside of ourselves that it could have been us, killed amongst the victims.

Following such attacks, we had to modify our habits and even give up some of our freedom.  When travelling, for example, we had to take off our shoes, belts and have liquids confiscated.

We had to agree to be searched and have our bags and suitcases checked.  Many cameras began to follow our movement on the streets and in public. 

Although inconvenient and boring, we cooperated for our own safety.  But we were consoled by the fact that after going through customs at the airport, we would be arriving in a holiday destination or a city where we could meet business partners.  We would be returning to family or going away to University to study or starting a new job in a strange country.

This time, though, our freedom ended and our cooperation was needed to the extent that we had to relinquish any previous relationship we had with it.  We see now that freedom is not something we can take for granted.  It is an expression of something fundamental to our wellbeing and our idea of success.  The more successful we are in life, the more freedom we accumulate (or believe we do), either by gaining time or by being less dependent on others and being able to indulge in our desires.   We become independent, financially and can make more of our own choice on how we chose to live. 

For some, freedom is simply that.  The freedom to be and to think.  The possibility of spending time alone on a boat at sea or the opportunity to travel the world and live amongst others.  The younger you are the more you cherish and experience freedom as a commodity, same as the air you breathe. 

So, having to be submissive to a hairy virus, invading our space, our bodies and our life was totally gross and shocking. 

We question, over and over again, when we are going to regain our freedom and whether we can expect to have restrictions on it that go way beyond anything we think we can tolerate.  We may have to fight for our freedom when the economy becomes the priority. 

At first, the luxury of strolling down to a café and enjoying a cappuccino in the sun would be bliss.  Going to the hairdresser and sitting in that chair for hours but emerging with a new look.  Driving and walking again without worry of bumping into friends.  Shopping and returning to our favourite restaurant. Or allowing the children to ride a bike outside and run around. 

As the initial relief of being free again passes, we will start to move onto greater freedom and here the uncertainty will set in.  That spirit that embued us, that energy inside fueling our minds and bodies, opening our view to life beyond survival, beyond providing only for our physical needs but also for our political, emotional and social life has now been dented.   Is it something that we rebuild or something that has be earned again?  Could it be instinctive and easily set free again?

The sense of globalization has never been more clearly laid out for us as it has now, under the spread of COVID19.  Something which started with someone’s take-away supper in Wuhan ended up going right across the globe and into homes everywhere.  Conversely, those societies which do not enjoy full democracy or live under a regime became equal to the rest of us.  Italy, land of song and freedom, got shut down for months, whilst Wuhan patients danced in hospital.

The road from freedom to recovery is still shrouded in the unknown.  For many it is simply a matter of picking up again from where we left off.  We will go back to our job, our work, our dreams and push the gas as much as we can so that we recuperate our losses of these past months.  For others, life will have changed radically and our values too. 

Ours is a mixed economy but one which has been tending more towards the service economy with uncontrolled construction forced upon us.   There will soon come a time when the two cannot succeed side by side.  Construction can wipe out tourism by the uglification of the island, the lack of open spaces and the destruction of historical identity.  On the other hand, tourism will face many new changes.  The price of flights will probably rise, the amount of routes will decrease before it can once again expand all over the world.  The geo-political map will be re-drawn with China either taking a massive hit or actually enforcing its hold over weak economies. 

Malta’s GDP was always greatly dependent on tourism.  The income from the sale of passports was good while it lasted and gave the impression that we had become global players.   Largely now we are back to the 60s when Malta was growing its tourism industry and we will once again have to ensure that we have a product that can save our service economy.  We are not clear what will have become of our national airline and what destinations are still serviceable.

From that, the rest depends.  We will need a forward looking government to regenerate the economy in a way that is open and transparent and not revert to the corruption and direct orders and fake sense of superiority that we had before all this.  There is no way that we can go forward with the kind of deals that were created in another world.  The Electrogas deal, the Vitals and Steward Healthcare deal, the politically biased national TVM or where, to this day, the Prime Minister choses the Labour TV station One to make his national briefings.   All that is now ancient and either the PM gets with the new reality and the necessary maturity in running this country or no amount of optimistic talk is going to lift our GDP to normal again.  This time we  need expert minds that can work for the good of the whole country and not for their pockets.  We need a government that does what is best for the environment and for the economy even if it means saying no to those who would put themselves above the others.

One priority should be to recuperate all the millions that have been squandered on shady deals and criminals.  Then let us start again from a clean patch and build up a more serene and a gentler country than the one that took our farmers, our homes, our air and trees, our sea and coast.  Those schools which have been promised over and over again to be built, must be built and our children should enjoy the freedom and education that is their right.  Back to the future.